re: #4 Bob Levin

I think the direction I’ll go, first, is trying to understand who the Kurds are. There was a comment the other day about Israel’s Lieberman saying that Israel could support the Kurds—and someone said that it’s a bad idea, or an ironic moment, that Israel is supporting a terrorist group.

If the PKK is considered a terrorist group, simply because they embraced Marx for a few years (which is State Department shorthand for, I don’t want to read anymore), then that bears some examination. Who didn’t read Marx in the 60s? It’s very possible that the Kurds have a legitimate reason to want to rule themselves, and are obviously capable of doing so because they are geographically isolated. They’ve always had to rule themselves.

That’s the first stage.

There was a little bit more behind my comment that Liberman was being stupid. Lieberman was proposing to have Israeli officials meet with European leaders of the PKK to explore ways in which Israel could help the PKK.

The issue with this is that the PKK is a terrorist group according the pretty much everybody in the west. There may or may not be legitimate reasons for that designation (I lean towards there being legitimate reasons) but the fact remains that dealing with a “terrorist” group in a country which considers them a terrorist group is itself illegal. Having Israeli officials publicly meet with PKK representatives in the US or Europe would be an invitation to label Israel a state sponsor of terrorism. Can you imagine the glee in Iran and Syria at being able to press legal charges against Israel in European courts?